New Grad NP Salary vs Hourly Pay California

[saynotojello]

I graduate in a month and I was just offered a position! (YAY!) My classmates have also been offered positions however no one seems to talk about pay. I would like to know what folks are being compensated for both hourly and salary for my own negotiating purposes.

The position was offered pretty quickly (during the interview) and I wasn't prepared to state my salary requirements so I said $50/hr and they agreed to it then I basically tried to up my game and asked them to increase it after the training period.

I was offered in a private practice $50/hr and after training period $53/hr

If you are hourly do you have administrative time included (ie. lunch time charting?)

What is your CME allowance?

how much paid time off?

[Goldenfox]

I'm in Oregon. I'm just about to graduate. As a new grad I'm going to request 62 dollars an hour or a 115,000 annual salary plus 20% bonus for profits above 2 times my salary. I also want full medical, dental, 401K, 4 weeks PTO and extra pay for when I take call. This is in a family practice setting that I am currently a student at. As a student I see between 8-10 patients a day and that is with my preceptor repeating my exams and present for all procedures. I expect my first day in the practice I'll be seeing 20 patients a day. I'm not sure if this pay is reasonable or unreasonable. What I know is I was offered an urgent care job that pays 55 dollars an hour, 20% bonus for profits over 2x salary, 3 twelves, and major on call/shift incentives. I'm willing to accept the 55 an hour in family practice so I'm asking for more than I'm willing to take. If they're not willing to pay that I'll take the urgent care job. I am also uniquely poised as I am fully integrated in the office and will require minimal training.

I like your thinking. It has always surprised me how many new NPs are so desperate and excited to get that first job that they forget to negotiate and just take whatever is offered. Most new grads do not start out seeing 20 patients per day. Its usually significantly less than that. The employers want you to see at least one patient every 15 minutes---which is ridiculous in primary care since some of the patients are VERY sick. If you are seeing 20 already then you are doing very well. $115,000 is not too much to ask for. They are going to cry it down, so its always best to ask for more than you are willing to accept. I've noticed lately that NP pay on the west coast has flattened somewhat during the past year or so---and in some cases has even gone back down into the $90s. Their latest game is to advertise the positions with an 'up to' salary and then try to lowball by saying that the higher end of the pay scale is offered only to NPs with so many years of experience. Its all BS. Even if they are paying you more than the $115+ plus all the other things that you plan to ask for they will still be making a LOT of money off you.

[amalay, MSN, RN]

Hi - I'm working in California as well, although no longer a "new grad". When I got my first job offer though, I thought I had done good for myself too- ending up getting an offer for about $52-53/hr or $110K annually with 240-hrs PTO (athough this includes CME, sick days and holidays when the clinic is closed), $1500 CME and full benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401K with 50% match up to 6% with additional 4% contribution from the company after 1 year).

I'm still at this current job, recently got a raise up to $125K annually (finally hitting that $60/hr) mark that I see people quoting above. I work for a large organization as well (think wanna-be Kaiser/Sutter- our color is orange if that's a hint to anyone).

I'm located along the coast- more central coast though and not bay area. Cost of living is still high and almost equivalent to that of Siliconn Valley and SF, in my opinion.

I'm currently on the search for a new position as well; and feel that I am asking for too much for some positions. To the point where I think it's "scared away" some employers from making an offer? Although most places I've explored so far are community health centers (FQHCs). What is the average expected for a community health center in the Bay Area? Should I expect it to be in the $80-90Ks as well? I expected them to be higher because I was getting the $80-90K offers in the Central Valley where it is generally "less desirable" and has a significantly lower cost of living.

[Goldenfox]

Should I expect it to be in the $80-90Ks as well? I expected them to be higher because I was getting the $80-90K offers in the Central Valley where it is generally "less desirable" and has a significantly lower cost of living.

I would not accept an NP job anywhere in California that pays $80 to 90k. You can do that and better as an RN, and they know it. Ask for what you want, not what you expect them to offer. Where in the Central Valley area were you being offered this salary? I know there are still places there that are offering much more than 80 to 90k to new grads.

[amalay, MSN, RN]

I would not accept an NP job anywhere in California that pays $80 to 90k. You can do that and better as an RN, and they know it. Ask for what you want, not what you expect them to offer. Where in the Central Valley area were you being offered this salary? I know there are still places there that are offering much more than 80 to 90k to new grads.

I had an 85k offer for an urgent care in Merced, CA, as well as a 95k offer for a community health center in Sacramento, CA. I also had a 95k offer for a private practice in Antioch/Brentwood/Concord (this position required travel between the clinics).

[Goldenfox]

I expected them to be higher because I was getting the $80-90K offers in the Central Valley where it is generally "less desirable" and has a significantly lower cost of living.

These people have trouble holding on to their staff because of how the demographics of the Central Valley area has changed and is changing. Its mostly agricultural lands and a whole lot of nothingness on both sides of the road as you're driving through. Fewer and fewer of the older generation Americanos live in the area anymore. Most educated professionals who can do better will not move to these places. A lot of them who are there now are there only because of the student loan forgiveness programs. As soon as they fulfill their service requirements they will be gone too. The schools are bad, most people don't speak English, the towns are small and isolated and have a disproportionately significant amount of the gang and criminal activity. Medical students come and do their rotations and then leave. Some stay only long enough to get their green cards. Most locums don't stay either. Some areas are better than others, but I can't think of any that I would call 'good'. For this reason, the real estate is relatively cheap. One would think that they would go be willing to pony up the cash and pay good money to attract and keep their medical staff. $80 to 90 is a joke. These people are making a lot of money. They are collecting the same reimbursements from the insurance companies, and Medicaid, and Medicare as facilities in other parts of the country. And the state pays them even for the myriad illegal aliens who walk through their doors for care. They can afford to pay their medical staff better than that.

[amalay, MSN, RN]

The schools are bad, most people don't speak English, the towns are small and isolated and have a disproportionately significant amount of the gang and criminal activity

Oh- you don't have to tell me haha. I'm originally from Stockton (formerly most miserable city in the US!) and for me personally I'd never even dream of living/working back in the area. The only reason why I do visit still is because my parents or grandparents are there!

But back on topic- would you (or anyone else here) say it is within the budge of FHQCs to offer more competitive salaries? I recently think I "scared off" a potential offer from a school-based health clinic which is also an FQHC in San Jose, CA because I had quoted a range of 100-115K annual expected salary. Some digging around online revealed that their average for an FNP was about $85K in 2011, which just sounds ridiculously low for the area.

[ooRNoo]

Whoah that is low.

My wife new grad whnp 60/hr. My cousin new grad NP getting 75/hr in urgent care. I work in ED with base of 80/hr with 10 dollars differential for pm shifts. My gig to cover crisis shift as per diem negotiated bonus between 1000 and 1500 per shift on top of my base pay.

Hope this helps. This is Southern California. Dont sell yourself short, you are not only hurting yourself but others as well.

[googs]

Whoah that is low.

My wife new grad whnp 60/hr. My cousin new grad NP getting 75/hr in urgent care. I work in ED with base of 80/hr with 10 dollars differential for pm shifts. My gig to cover crisis shift as per diem negotiated bonus between 1000 and 1500 per shift on top of my base pay.

Hope this helps. This is Southern California. Dont sell yourself short, you are not only hurting yourself but others as well.

Does your position and cousin's position include benefits on top of that hourly rate? And you're saying you get $1000-1500 per SHIFT on top of $80/hr if a crisis shift? That's crazy. I'm in CT and I've never seen anyhting like it. An ED I work at run by GARBAGE Emcare pays $70/hr and offers NO BENEFITS except for crappy health insurance. No retirement match. NOTHING.

[ICULatte]

Hi Juan,

I was looking at UCDavis salary, if you have 7years RN experience do you know what pay step you will start at? Thanks so much

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

Somewhere in the middle I would suppose but each UC campus determines the years of experience required to go up a step. Some campuses have more steps than others. Also be aware that UC benefits are better than most...one of few places that still offer a pension.